Dozens of companies ranging from Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Apple Inc. to Microsoft Corp. and Viacom Inc. have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether a law banning sex discrimination in the workplace provides protections to homosexual employees, reports Reuters (Oct. 11). "A group of 76 companies submitted a brief to the court saying a split among lower courts on that question had created uncertainty for employers and gay workers," the wire service states. Specifically, the companies asked the Supreme Court to take up the case of Jameka Evans, a former security guard at a Georgia hospital who says she was forced to quit her job because she is a lesbian. The various companies charge that the lack of a federal law clearly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has hindered recruitment in the 27 states that have not adopted their own such laws.